this is the best marvel character guide i have found so far. it lists the characters in alphabetical order and gives you a quick run down of each. i like that they make connections on them as well, but the back bios? i think you have to kind of know the characters because if i was seeing one for the first time it's incredibly vague.

i really enjoyed this book. it takes 200 superheros and gives a small account of orgin (now how they became, necessarily) and what their main powers are, a little about them and of course genealogical connections. one of the reason i so love the super hero world is that it really is modern mythology. it all ties together like mythology does as well. now i know you're saying 'duh' but it is deeper. i did learn a few things and some physical or genealogical facts i didn't know and that was fun. it wasn't just all of the popular ones as well. although it wasn't so obsure that you'd never heard of any of them either. ( )